KATERINAOne minute, I was walking and the next minute, I was swept off my feet in bridal style and rushed towards Vincent's car. Vincent shoved me into the backseat of the car with an urgency I had never seen in him before. He barely managed to close the door before snapping at his driver, “Go. Now!” The car jolted forward, and I grabbed the seat, my pulse pounding as the city lights blurred past. I could feel Vincent’s tension radiating beside me, his hand gripping the edge of the seat. “Vincent, what’s going on?” I asked, trying to make sense of his panic, but he didn’t answer immediately. He kept glancing over his shoulder, out the rear window, and it was then that I realized with panic that there was a car coming after us."Vincent!" I said again, louder this time. He finally looked at me, and there was something in his expression that made my stomach drop.“It’s her,” he said quietly, his voice tight. “My mother’s following us.”I didn’t understand at first. Why would Da’ana b
KATERINAThe trees loomed above me, their branches twisting like skeletons against the black sky, and I could feel the ground beneath my feet, damp and unfamiliar. My heart was pounding, my breath coming in short, panicked bursts as I tried to make sense of where I was. But nothing made sense.I spun around, disoriented, trying to make sense of these figures but always coming up short. The shadows were moving toward me, slow at first, but with purpose. I tried to shout, to demand who they were, but my voice came out weak, almost swallowed by the air. “Who are you? What do you want?” My words echoed, but there was no answer. Only silence, and their steady approach.I backed away, but they were closing in from behind as well. My chest tightened with fear, my skin prickling with cold dread. “Please… someone… who are you?” My voice broke, tears welling in my eyes as the figures drew closer. There were more of them now, emerging from the shadows, their forms starting to take shape, coming
VINCENT"Sir, please can you spare twenty dollars for me and my baby? I really need to get something for both of us—" I turned to look at the person who was asking, and my eyes met a woman who looked like she was not even done being a teenager. She carried a little child in her arms, and quite frankly, the child looked very malnourished. The woman in question had fiery red unkempt hair, but was still freakishly beautiful, just like the baby.Without saying anything, I took out a few dollar bills from my pocket, not bothering to check how much. I knew it was a couple of hundred dollar bills which I had taken with me last minute as I hardly liked to carry cash around.Her hands were shaky as she accepted the money with moisture gathering in her eyes. I took out a card almost immediately too and handed it to her.After she had collected it, I told her, "That's my organization. They take care of people like you; you will get shelter and good food, coupled with education for your child wh
VINCENT"Who the hell are you?" I barked, struggling to hold myself from from combusting. She straightened, flipping her hair over her shoulder then swallowing, she told me, "Hi, I'm your new baby mama. My name is Angie." She had a nervous smile on her face which fully indicated that the lady was fucking lying to me. I was still a man known for self-control, so I decided that a trivial matter such as this was not going to make me lose my temper.Angie was cute. She looked like she would not be doing this if it was not for the money involved. She shifted her foot from time to time, trying her best not to look nervous but ended up looking it anyways.She was average height, dressed in an raunchy manner, and not even half as pretty as my firecracker. Another fun fact, I was pretty sure now that I had not seen this women in my life.I walked up to her, my steps menacing and fucking slow until I got directly in front of her. "You laid your hands on my girl because of your stupid lie?"He
KATERINARealizing that woman was a bloody liar did not bring the relief I had thought that it would. Instead, my blood simply boiled as I thought about his confident she had seemed, strolling into his house like she owned the place already. Like she could just snap her fingers and send me out immediately.It rubbed so badly on me, reminding me of my past so accurately; Whitney stepping foot into my house and taking my husband away from that day on. What were the odds that it would not happen again? I had asked myself when I saw her and she lodged her complaint.The bitch had really laid her hands on me. It was the first time in a long time that I had fought anyone, but I was not even ashamed of it. I threw hands and I did not even care if she caught them. By the time we were done, she had more bruises than I did. It made me more than okay.I kept wondering who had sent her though. The only person I could think of was Reina, but as far as I remembered, we did not even have that much
KATERINA"Once a slut, always a bloody slut, hmm?" I questioned, shaking out of the fear that had started to form in me. She just grinned."What? Annoyed that you do not have the kind of sexual appeal I do? The same appeal I once used to snatch your man away from you and won't hesitate to do again…" I felt Vincent's hand grab mine and start to peel open my palm that had clamped to a fist. I had not even realized it until he started to peel the palm open. I swallowed and let him, speaking now with gritted teeth,"If you think that you can escape this time, you definitely have something else coming for you. You cannot escape, Whitney. This is your end. I recommend that you brace yourself for what's coming, because I did not only come here to say hello. I took off my jacket, slowly, letting it fall to the floor as I signaled for the guards to take her into a cell behind her."Tie her up too." I suggested. They didn't hesitate.They grabbed her and dragged her into the dark cell while I
VINCENTMy Google search was filled with ideas on how to ask a girl out. I was as clueless as they came, and James was little help, seeing as he was currently nursing himself back from a breakup.Yes, the woman he had been head over heels in love with was no longer his girl. She had broken up with him after he had found out that she was cheating. Yes. He found out. She broke up with him.Fun fact, he was willing to forgive her. If had begged her for another chance after she had said she wanted to call it quits, and she did not agree to 'take him back'.Owen and I talked about the unfortunate over drinks one time, and my brother was livid. He wanted to meet with the girl for a one on one. Hell, I wanted to do that too. Not to particularly bring harm to her, just to inform her of what she had lost. I had a feeling she did not know it yet, and I just wanted to tell her.James was the nicest man I had ever met. So selfless, so free spirited. James was a gem to anyone he came across, which
KATERINAI visited the cell two more times after the first time, meting out punishments to Whitney. She never failed to remind me that what I was doing was illegal and that she would drag me to death, and also that when she escaped from our clutches, she would claw out my eyes. Guess who did not give a fuck about all her threats…Right, me.In fact, all I wanted was for her to bring it on.We visited Da'ana a few times too and that one just kept asking for forgiveness over and over. She tried to blackmail her son at first and when she saw that it was not working, she resorted to begging. That was not going to work too, but yeah, she could try.I realized, however, that in the middle of all the chaos, in the middle of dealing with Da’ana’s endless pleas for forgiveness, and Whitney’s venomous promises, there was this one person who had kept me grounded—Vincent. I was at work at the moment, but half of time, I was just busy texting him. He was my boyfriend now, I could officially take
EPILOGUE KATERINA Forever and a long ass day; that was how long I wanted to be with Vincent. It was finally happening today, our wedding, and I was the happiest bride. Ava stepped into the suite where I was getting my makeup done, all dressed and looking every bit of the princess she was, and I could not help but fight back tears. Within the past few months since she got here, she had grown so much. She was so beautiful, looked happier now and more healthy. I loved this child so much… She had a single rose and a box in hand as she walked towards me and I shook my head, my smile refusing to leave my lips, "Vincent, right?" I questioned. She nodded with a wide smile, "Daddy asked me to give this to you, mommy." Yeah, she called out me ‘mommy’ not too long ago, and has not looked back ever since. With a grin on my face, I took the gifts off her hand and then tore the box open to reveal a blank cheque which read; THANK YOU FOR MARRYING ME… AGAIN. And I would do it o
VINCENTI could not believe what I was hearing. That fucking nanny had almost killed my wife-to-be, and her death was made that easy? I could not let my driver take the wheels on this one, I took hold of the steering myself, heading straight to the hospital I had been directed to.Katerina was not picking up any of my calls and I hated it. I wanted to know how she was doing, how my daughter was doing too. I wanted to make sure they had not ingested that fucking poison in any manner. If by any chance that poison had gone down any of my girls' throat, next believe I would be killing that bloody woman all over again.The drive to the hospital was long as hell, but I finally got there and practically jumped out of the front seat, heading straight inside the building.The moment I walked into the hospital room and saw Katerina sitting there, alive and well, I felt like I could breathe again. There she was, her face pale and tired, yet still the most beautiful thing I had ever laid my eye
KATERINAThe house was quieter than usual that night, and I was starting to get that uneasy feeling again.I sat in the living room, reading a book while waiting for Ava to finish kissing her nanny goodnight so we could go to bed together.Vincent was out for the night handling some business, and I was left alone with Ava and the domestic staff. That's when I heard it—hushed voices from down the hallway. I couldn't make out everything, but the tone caught my attention. It was sharp, scolding. The words became clearer as I stood and crept toward the kitchen. "How could you mess this up, Ava? I told you to make sure she ate the eggs, not the chicken!" Her nanny hissed. "I—I thought she ate everything. I saw her do. I didn't know." Ava's small voice quivered, her words barely audible through the door. I could not then laugh at her little grammatical blunder at that moment, as I froze where I stood, my stomach twisting into knots. The eggs? What was she talking about? "Your mommy
KATERINA "Can I speak to mommy on the phone?" Ava asked quietly, looking up at me with desperate eyes. This was not the first time she had asked it, and it broke my heart for her that I could not give in to her request. "Sweetheart, I told you many times… mommy is out of reach. You cannot speak to her yet, but you will, I will take you to see her one of these days. I promise." I did not care if Whitney wanted her to see her like that or not, they'd have to meet, I decided. "Alright, K. Thank you." She muttered. The nickname always filled my stomach with butterflies. Fun fact; she had come up with it herself. In fact, she had requested to call me that. Though I secretly hoped she would eventually call me mommy, I decided to make do with this. We sat there while she colored on a new drawing hook I had bought for a while, until the smell of roasted chicken wafted through the room, and I looked back, noticing the nanny walking towards us. I almost moaned in relief. Finally. "So
KATERINAWhitney refused to tell us anything more after that. We stood there, threatening her with all manner of things, but she never budged. She just sat there, smiling crookedly and laughing occasionally.I finally convinced Vincent to leave there and we both went home, hoping to figure out what exactly Whitney meant with everything she said about Ava ourselves.This morning, I woke up in his arms and peered up to see that he was awake already, focused on his phone. He had wrinkled lines in his forehead and dark circles around his eyes, and I could not help but feel a twinge of worry for him.The man had been working so hard these days and somehow, I knew that it had something to do with what Whitney had said about his child.Ava was acting… well, she was still detached from her father but she was every bit the bubbly child around me. Her nanny lived with us now, and continued to take care of her, in better living conditions… it was what she wanted, and she had been very grateful.
VINCENT I slammed my car door shut before I went over to the other side to open up for Katerina. "Thank you," she muttered, looking as eager to see Whitney as I was. She looked even more eager, but then again that was probably because the woman literally wore her emotions like a sleeve. We walked briskly inside the prison walls without really saying anything else to each other; we had talked enough on our way here. It was only when we were getting to her cell, that Katerina turned to face me, telling me, "I am going to let you talk to her. You are the one who is mostly affected by this, I would let you question her and whatnot without any interruptions but I also want to say stuff to her too, just so you know." She informed me, and I nodded, not wanting to say anything in response at first, except that nod, but after a quick glance at her face, I could see the desperation in her eyes for me to be okay and just like that, I just couldn’t keep to myself any longer. I threw m
KATERINA"Oh God, Ava!" I cried out as the little girl bolted away from the living room as we all had reacted too slowly because of course, no one had expected that from her.Vincent was the first to run after her, and also the first to recover from the shock. He was behind her in no time, and I was next, followed by the nanny.Luckily, the butler was quick enough to stop her. Ava was crying and kicking in his arms, demanding to be set free, but he was not having it."You aren't going out of here without adult supervision, woman!" He yelled, but she was not having it."Let me go! My mommy will hurt me, she says he's the bad guy, I cannot be around him, please…" She continued to cry. My heart broke in pieces for her. What kind of a mother was Whitney for crying out loud? "Your mother hurt you, and you still think your daddy is the bad man?" Vincent blurted out and I pinned him with a look, but he did not spare me a glance, his eyes were still transfixed in his daughter who refused to
VINCENT Katerina pulled the door open for me, mumbling to the butler, "Never mind. I got this." And then she smile widely at me after opening the door, wrapping her arms around my body in a tight hug. Her smile was nervous as fuck, as if she had something to tell me, and I knew that she did. A child was in here, at the living room. I had peeked through the surveillance, because my girl sounded nervous as fuck and I had to know what was making her like that. It was either that or me storming out of the meeting I was in. There was a nanny with the little girl too. She was claiming that the child was mine, and Whitney was her mother. But how the fuck did that even happen? Katerina pulled away from me, her face twisting in an offended frown, "You don't want to hug me back?" She started to step aside, but then my hand gripped her waist and I pulled her to me with force so her body collided with mine. Katerina gasped, then burst into a fit of giggles as I planted kisses al
KATERINA There was some commotion outside the front door. I had just heard it as I got out of the bathroom, trying to prepare to go shopping at the mall for a few essentials since I did not have work today. I ended up just throwing on Vincent’s T-shirt and a pair of shorts before heading downstairs to see what the noise was about. The noises grew louder as I approached the door and I pulled it open at once on reaching it. When my eyes met with a little girl's with her dark curls falling softly around her face, clutching a worn stuffed bunny, I almost thought she’d stopped at the wrong house. But then I noticed her eyes—a striking, familiar gray. The same piercing color that belonged to Vincent, with a touch of softness that reminded me of Whitney. Next to her stood a woman, exhausted, holding the little girl’s hand firmly, as if afraid she might lose her any moment. Our butler was asking questions, his gaze shifting between the woman and the little girl with polite suspicion.